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Contents

Note: this article is intended to provide guidance for experienced characters playing a new elementalist or experienced elementalists looking for additional options. If this is your first time playing Guild Wars, please see Getting started in Guild Wars Prophecies.

Basics

An Elementalist's Place

As an elementalist, you are the artillery, causing massive damage from the rear lines. You are not a tank. Elementalists have low armor, few healing or survival skills, and, except for certain situations, should not be in the front lines. Elementalists have the most expensive skills, the largest energy pool and energy management.

Specialty Skills and Unique Conditions

Elementalists have one type of skill unique to the elementalist profession:

Glyphs are quick casting skills that modify the subsequent spells used by the caster. Glyphs last for 15 seconds from when they were cast. Glyphs cannot be removed or stripped and have no target. All glyphs have a 1 second casting time and can be interrupted.

Apart from energy, Elementalists have another spell cost: Exhaustion. When an elementalist casts a spell that causes exhaustion, the top 10 points of the elementalist's energy pool are "grayed out", and cannot be used. Exhaustion expires at the rate of 1 point every three seconds. Exhaustion stacks, so a second exhaustion spell causes an additional 10 points to be deducted from the caster's energy pool.

Being an Elementalist

Elementalists are master spellcasters, calling fire from the heavens, freezing foes in their tracks, blasting enemies with lightning, and crushing them with stone. Stay to the rear of the party and communicate with monks and necromancers for health and energy management. It is usually best to wait for foes to settle on a target, preferably the warriors, before beginning your siege.

Target enemy monks and ritualists, as these characters have low armor but are very effective at extending the life of the opposing party. Move on to other casters and warriors. It is best to leave rangers for last unless you have armor ignoring spells, as rangers have higher armor against your attacks.

Elementalists in PvP tend to be hybrid support characters and are often flag runners in Guild versus Guild battles. Energy Storage complements expensive healing spells such as Heal Party and Extinguish.

Building

Choose an Element

Elementalists are most effective if they concentrate on a single element and maximize the effect of that element. Additionally, each element has an attunement spell that refunds some of the cost of that element's spells. These attunement spells should be kept active constantly. See Runes and Armor for suggestions on creating an elementally flexible character.

The Fire element contains some of the most powerful Area of Effect spells. Fire elementalists must be careful when casting these spells to avoid scattering foes. Fire Spells are usually expensive, slow casting, and have long recharge times, but have large areas of effect and widespread damage.

Most air magic spells cause Lightning damage, and many have 25% armor penetration. Air magic spells are most effective as spike skills against warriors or rangers with high armor. Air spells are usually inexpensive, fast casting and fast recharging, but have very focused damage, with a tendency to target single foes. Air skills are also capable of causing Blind, Cracked Armor, Dazed and Weakness.

Water magic is the bastion of hexes and snaring. Most water magic spells cause cold damage, and many cause the target to be slowed for several seconds. Water spells are usually moderate in cost, fast casting with long recharge times and low damage, but have many other advantageous effects.

Earth magic has several powerful protective spells and more than a few spike and area of effect spells. Earth is more balanced than the other elements, providing both powerful offensive and powerful defensive skills. Earth spells are usually expensive, slow casting, medium damage and have long recharge times, but have large areas of effect and many protective and defensive effects. Earth skills can also cause conditions that focus on weakening the enemy as well as the largest number of knockdown skills of any element.

Interesting Earth Skills:

Earthquake and Aftershock are a powerful area of effect combination, knocking down and causing damage to the area.

For each rank of Energy Storage, your maximum energy increases by 3, making energy storage important for all elementalists. Energy Storage contains powerful energy management skills and the only self healing skills available to elementalists.

Glyphs are a type of skill unique to elementalists. They may be tied to an attribute or as a standalone skill. Glyphs work by modifying the next spell the caster uses. All glyphs cost only 5 energy to use and have a variety of effects.